I was stunned to see this hideous block of flats as I was cycling through Ridley Road Market in Dalston yesterday. Is this the 'swanky' new housing project Hackney Council has elected to impose on the community of Dalston after it chose to first remove the slates from the roof of the local Georgian theatre (aka the famous Four Aces jazz club), then neglect and tear down the building on Dalston lane in the name of progress? I had no idea, from the planning drawings I'd seen previously that this building would be so shiny and hideous, resembling as it does a philistine's idea of the striking 'flat iron' building in New York city. I knew of course that it would be towering above the nearby Victorian architecture, totally out of scale and character in relation to its surroundings. You'd expect nothing less from the ignorant planning department at Hackney Council. But I had no idea how shiny or ugly it would be. What does everyone else think? I'd be interested to know.

Crossrail Makes the Earth Move

Intriguing to see that after four-five solid years of petitioning Crossrail's Select Committee and lobbying Peers and MPs, the Spitalfields community appears to have got a result and a quiet miracle has happened in our midst. That instead of the original proposal: 120 lorries a day pounding our narrow streets to take the earth from the tunnelling process to a railway in Allen Gardens (just off Brick Lane) which would then have run 24/7 through the night, daily for around 6 years (yes, six years!) to carry this earth all the way down to Limehouse, Mile End and beyond...meaning six years of misery, noise, danger on the roads, subsidence and asthma for local schoolchildren- instead, we now have common sense ladies and gentlemen of the jury - yes, the 'spoil' as it is called, is to be transported on barges down the river Thames to be used for a bird sanctuary on Wallasea Island, Essex. Hallelulujah...praise be! A green solution even.

See story in this week's Advertiser (Local 'Newspaper of the Year' two years running I note!):

http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED29%20Sep%202009%2020%3A04%3A55%3A110

We have gone from this (Evening Standard) coverage in 2004:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-12197837-crossrail-will-destroy-historic-community.do

via long months of the community campaigning: http://khoodeelaar.wordpress.com/

To this: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/company/communications-centre/press-releases/impact-of-crossrail-construction-to-be-lessened

Amazing really when you think about the amount of effort expended on persuading Crossrail not to dig a hole the size of the Channel Tunnel just off Brick lane.

The true heroes in all of this were my friend Kay Jordan (MBE), who runs the Spitalfields Small Businesses Association and is a brilliant architect by profession. She was able to take the plans apart painstakingly in front of the Select Committee, while speaking a language they understood and persuade them that the tunnel should be dug from the ends rather than from a central shaft in the middle of the village of Spitalfields. She proposed that they take the earth out of the ends of the tunnel rather than here...and that my friends was a significant victory.

Of course it helped that Tower Hamlets Council eventually saw sense and got behind the residents. It's not hard to see why. We are voters to them after all.

Secondly, my two good friends Guy Carpenter and his girlfriend Bal Khela (ex-journo for The Lawyer) and adviser with Citizens Advice - both of whom I met when we were campaigning to save Spitalfields Market from the wrecking ball (1999 - 2003) - who campaigned tirelessly throughout on no pay, working endlessly through the legal documentation, photocopying into the night - even going so far as to work with a pro bono QC of their own.

And finally, Mohammed Haque, who helped to mobilise the Bangladeshi community while George Galloway was making a complete tit of himself on Big Brother, and encourage the local businessmen to fire off legal challenges to the Crossrail proposals and hold a rally outside Parliament. (I'll never forget those local meetings of the Bangladeshi business community at the Brady Centre near Brick Lane, where every time Galloway's name was mentioned, loud 'Miaooows' could be heard resounding around the hall. Priceless).

I should really point out that we owe a big thank you to Jacqui Smith, the then Labour Whip, for coming up Brick Lane to remind us all that our absent MP was shaming himself on TV while the Crossrail bill was being debated in Parliament...this caused outrage and consternation in the Bangladeshi community who immediately responded by getting on the case and firing off legal challenges left right and centre.

Thanks for that Jacqui! We will be eternally grateful.

It was yet another New Labour own goal. They under-estimated the power of this community, which has always thought on its feet and reacted vigorously to the moral paucity and lethargy of successive governments, be they Labour, Lib-dem or Tory. You only have to read 'Spitalfields: A Battle for Land', Charlie Foreman's amazing book to get an idea of the history of failure by politicians to sort out the housing and planning issues in Spitalfields.

You can read my petition on the Parliament website, and hear it read out by me in the Lords, in front of two intimidating QC's (one looking the spit of Rumpole of the Bailey) a few years ago (there's a priceless bit where I'm speeding ahead with my presentation - possibly a bit too impetuously and the particularly stuffy QC attempts to slow me down, by saying "You'll get your day in court Miss. Broadbridge." and I respond, "I intend to your honour"...(I know what you're thinking - saucy minx)...You can only hear this on the audio version on the Parliament website though...if you can be bothered to look it up on: www.parliament.uk

The irony at the time of course was that the two QC's also just happened to be working for Jeff Rooker (Uncle Jeff) the Labour Minister, representing the Government as counsel on a case in N. Ireland because Jeff was also N.Ireland Minister. I was working for Rooker as a press officer at the time, so it was all very pally on the tea breaks. I think they thought I was part of the Establishment, like them. I kept up the act.

See my petition (No 307):

http://books.google.com/books?id=EtPsZQsFqAMC&pg=PA1066&lpg=PA1066&dq=Jemima+Broadbridge+petitioner+Crossrail+bill&source=bl&ots=Bds-QhjkUI&sig=qoQgjgRp5xErjS1OAx5n2TjcRfg&hl=en&ei=LnnKSuzJHo2e4Qa67anHAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Jemima%20Broadbridge%20petitioner%20Crossrail%20bill&f=false

Or if you prefer to read larger print..there's an easy to read scan of my petition itself:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/001/307.pdf

Assocation of Dirty Classes

Two weeks ago staff at the Bethnal Green Center held a meeting to discuss what we should do next to counter Tower Hamlets' plans for doing away with the college buildings on Bethnal Green Road. I went along to see whether I could add value in terms of PR advice to the campaign which now goes by the moniker of 'The Association of Dirty Classes' (the inference being that in order to take these courses you need to get your hands dirty). There is innuendo in the title because what the Borough is seeking to do to the college, is also by implication, 'dirty' and underhand. And the third meaning is a pejorative one, in that 'dirty', insignificant and of little social value - is how the Council views these courses.

The college's comprehensive range of adult education courses are under threat because the Borough, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided to co-opt the building for the use of a local school, for a two-year period, while the school is being refurbished. In effect, this will mean that during the day the college building will essentially function as a school, while at night, it will continue to be available for use by adults - but only for a limited, less comprehensive group of subjects. As a result many local people will lose a valuable lifeline...a place where young, old and disabled people of every denomination come to take practical, vocational courses in skills ranging from silver-smithing and jewellery making...to flamenco, weightlifting, woodwork and Tai Chi. This is because many students who use the college will not be able to attend evening classes and they find the daytime courses in such a central location, an essential resource for them. This will particularly affect the Bangladeshi women in the community who rely on the college as their main outlet and means of expression outside the domestic home.

There has been some talk from the Council of moving a percentage of the adult students to the Rich Mix Centre on Bethnal Green Road during this two-year period. But this building lacks the technical machinery and tools required for jewellery, metalwork and woodwork classes. And the college is bound to suffer as a result of having its locations, staff and students split up and sent to different sites.

There has been absolutely no public consultation with the college staff and the students in advance of the Council simply announcing its intentions, on its website six weeks ago. The plans have been communicated with an appalling lack of regard for the people involved and their livelihoods. The timing of the communication is also apposite for the Council has chosen to drop the bombshell during the Spring/Summer recess period when the majority of students are not in college and therefore not around to join in any protests against the decision.

The Council says that the reason for these changes are because the new Idea Stores it wants to set up in the Borough, require more funding and more space. They clearly have their eye on the Bethnal Green Centre as a potential Ideas Store site. It's also worth pointing out that there is no safeguard in place to protect this building from being magically transformed by the wand of regeneration into luxury lofts in two year's time.

We of course know that there plans are sadly part of the 'incremental creep' moving this way, laterally up Bethnal Green Road. Both the City and the Borough are now seeing pound and dollar signs over every publicly owned building, school and playground. In the distance you can here the k-ching of tills closing as the stealth march comes closer.

It was decided at the meeting that we would hold a public march along Bethnal Green Road on Saturday 26th April, (next weekend if anyone's interested in coming along and joining in, the march will start around midday on Bethnal Green road, E2), to highlight the plight of the college. Since that meeting, energetic staff members have enlisted George Galloway's help, replete with his famous Routemaster battlebus to create a visual for TV cameras and local press.
(see www.bethnalgreencentre.blogspot.com for more information)

Rumour has it that famous fashion photographer, David Bailey, first took photography classes here in the sixties and that this was how he first started to learn his trade. We are trying to get in touch with Bailey himself via various routes. But if anyone else has any useful connections to Patsy Palmer or any other East End celebs, who might be interested in helping us to fight this campaign -please get in touch via my blog or the campaign blog above.

Many boxers and World Title holding weight-lifters have also been training at the gym adjacent to the college, which has been running since after the first world war, to help rehabilitate soldiers returning from the front.

Epilogue

There is a happy ending to this story. Last Spring (2008), following a rally and (well-attended) march down Bethnal Green Road to the college, the council caved into our demands for a stay of execution for the Association of dirty classes. At a meeting of the council's education committee and local councillors, Kevin Collins, Head of Lifelong learning at Tower Hamlets, was forced, red-facedly to back down and announce that the college's courses, and its jobs protected for at least another year.

How was this result achieved? Well, I cannot claim to have played a silent role in this struggle. Behind the scenes, before the march, we issued a press release to local and national media, and I spoke to my contacts at ITN who made a couple of targeted phone calls to the council, which put the frighteners on them. On the day of the march, I set up radio interviews with Roberto Foth, union branch secretary and our campaign leader, with local london radio stations to get the message out.

But it was a joint effort. It all began with my friend Dave Boswell's brilliant efforts to get his woodwork students together a few wks previously for a meeting with the local Labour councillor, to convey their views to her in no uncertain terms. One of Dave's students who was in a wheelchair, came out and articulately proclaimed his love for these weekly classes and angrily denounced the council for threatening to close the college down. Apparently he ranted for about twenty minutes, during which time the councillor started to look quite intimidated. She realised what she was up against. She was snookered. Her face was a picture, as she realised that to close this college would run entirely against Labour's ideals, because this college is entirely the type of institution the Labour party should be looking to preserve, not destroy.

Dave also invited Michael Parker along, reporter for the Advertizer, who then wrote a brilliant, objective but illuminating article about the Labour councillors' thinly-veiled plans to dispose of the Victorian schools buildings and turn them into an 'Idea' store - one of Labour's key education policies.

There followed a stream of articles over several wks in the Advertizer which gathered momentum and formed a media campaign on behalf of the college and its students, holding the council to account. It was journalism at its best, doing what it does best, and what it should do - bringing out the truth, exposing the lies of politicians and helping to transform people's lives for the better. Paul Foot would have been proud.

The Advertizer printed the two letters that Kevan Collins had sent - one addressed to a student and one to George Galloway, our local MP - both saying different things. In the letter to the student Mr. Collins vehemently denied that the Council had any plans to close the place down, but in his letter to Galloway, he openly admitted that the building might have to be disposed of in the future to save money. Galloway then took up the cause and supported our march, continuing to write letters to Kevin Collins.

The council's ultimate decision was a great victory for the campaign and hopefully not a pyrrhic one, because the future of the college is still slightly uncertain - or at least less certain than absolutely secure. But at least most of the vocational classes, including woodwork and jewellery making are being allowed to continue and recently, after the birth of his first child, David Boswell got his job back at the college, part-time. The creche is still running in the hut in the car park there.

Some of the Esol (English) language classes have been moved to a wing of the Rich Mix Centre, further up Bethnal Green Road.

We hope that for now, Tower Hamlets has dropped its ludicrous idea of foisting yet another 'Idea Store' in Bethnal Green on the local people. It's possible that the recession is also playing its part. Lack of spare cash for ambitious building projects, even Government-funded ones, are failing to be realised.

Recently Roberto Foth played a key part in another campaign at neighbouring Tower Hamlets College, where he also teaches. They also held a march this Autumn to save their ESOL classes. Again the Advertizer has featured their struggle to keep going and to preserve this vital language teaching resource for a largely immigrant population in the borough, badly in need of education.

Demolition Diary

This page and the following pages is intended to be a log of the changing face of Brick Lane and the surrounding area, which is my neighbourhood, in the heart of London's East End.

'The incremental creep' is a phrase we coined during the campaign to save Spitalfields Market from aggressive expansion by the Corporation of London's developer, Spitalfields Development Group (SDG), and now Hammerson Plc, which is also aggressively seeking to build a range of tower blocks in the heart of Shoreditch, on top of the old Bishopsgate Goodsyard site.

Prime contender for the title of evil Emperor Ming, is one Mike Bear, Chair of SDG and also a partner in Hammerson Plc, who is behind much of this unsolicited development plan for the area which is set to blight Shoreditch. The man has pocketed and directly benefited from all of the developments so far, and even had the nerve to purchase a flat for himself in the new Elder St garden development, which overlooks the old market buildings in Spitalfields. It is as if he thinks he has an unwritten right to patronise the local people, without shame.

To add to his cheek, Michael Bear has also been campaigning recently to become Lord Mayor, head of the medieval, feudal and anachronistic Corporation of London. His greed and vanity knows no end. This man also took out a contract with a PR company on me when I was acting as press officer for the SMUT campaign for four years (1999-2003) in an effort to try and dig up dirt on me and besmirch my reputation. This was presumably because we were having so much success in terms of winning the PR battle. For a while we had the developers running scared. On numerous occasions, Mike Bear's simpering secretary, Sue Brown, tried to get me to attend their officers for a meeting with him to 'talk things over'. Like most developers who are charming to your face, they are busy signing contracts as soon as your back is turned. We didn't trust him an inch.

The campaign to save the market from demolition and redevelopment had survived for 15 long years. As such it was the longest campaign of its kind ever to run in London. At various points, direct action activist groups, the Green Party, George Monbiot, BBC London and numerous others had thought about ways in which they could possibly act to help save this landmark, piece of valuable heritage and public space. But it was our small SMUT campaign group of about 15 local people who in the end knuckled down to fighting the developer's plans over the last 5 yrs of the campaign.

Following the sad demolition of the 1928 extension of Spitalfields Market (which had oddly enough survived the 1945 Blitz!), Mike Bear and his fellow consorters conspired to demolish the nearby Bishopsgate Goodsyard, as the next piece of the jigsaw puzzle, or development 'pie' SDG had its eye on.

Despite a campaign which went to the High Court twice to challenge the developers and a Grade II* listing of the Braithwaite viaduct by the then Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, this magnificent structure (which was the 4th oldest railway structure in the world) was eventually demolished by the greedy and zealous philistine developer. Cue heartbreak for a lot of railway heritage enthusiasts.

A structure of a billion bricks incorporating a series of intricately vaulted arches was suddenly demolished overnight following consent from Hackney Council. To this day, it is not clear whether any of the listed Braithwaite viaduct has actually survived, because you cannot see clearly beyond the developer's hoardings.

During the campaign to save the Goodsyard, I had dinner with the transport correspondent of The Times, who just happened to live at the end of my road in Dalston at the time. Because the Prince of Wales had taken an interest in the Goodsyard heritage aspect of this story, and because the offices of his Foundation were in nearby Charlotte St, in Shoreditch, the Prince was prepared to write letters to the developer and speak out on the subject. The result was a front page story in The Times the following day. A coup for us - at least temporarily - in terms of rubbishing the developer's intention and the lack of consultation by Tower Hamlets and Hackney Council on a masterplan for the area.

During the proceedings in the High Court, demolition 'experts' Murphy's sent a couple of thugs to beat up the old man from the Victorian Railway Heritage Society who was fronting our campaign, as he was travelling home on the train, the night before he was due to appear in the High Court. They beat his legs with a couple of iron bars, in an effort to cripple him - and so that he could hardly walk. In the end, he made it into court the following day in a parlous state. The Judge was so shocked and rightly appalled by what had happened that he ordered the plaintiff (the Corporation's developer) to pay the victim half of the court costs.

During all of this, the Government's Regeneration Advisor, who was also a Commissioner for English Heritage approached me in Spitalfields Market one Sunday. He asked me if I would leak this story about the old man being threatened to the press, because he knew that if he did it, he would risk losing his job. I needn't have worried because the Evening Standard was already on the case and had written it up.

Eventually the old man was bought off by the developer who offered him £40k to take his hands off the case. Of course, being a pensioner, he accepted the no doubt, much needed funds and shut up. Plus ca change.

The incremental creep continues apace however, with new, aggressive tower block developments being proposed for the Goodsyard site on Bethnal Green Road and opposite the Rich Mix Centre at the top of Brick Lane. Secondly at Dalston Junction, more development has been planned on the site of the old Dalston Theatre, another listed building which


For interesting campaigns I've been involved in and I'm currently involved in, check out

Current campaigns:
www.bethnalgreencentre.blogspot.com
www.savethelight.co.uk
www.saveshoreditch.com


Past campaigns:
http://opendalston.blogspot.com/
Spitalfields Market Under Threat (used to be www.smut.org.uk but domain has since been fleeced by pornographers who are now trying to sell the domain - really!)
Save Bishopsgate Goodsyard